No, there is no typo in an agreement between the district and its teachers union that faces a vote by educators this month. The deal would let the district tap millions of dollars for professional development through the state's Quality Compensation, or Q-Comp, program -- and sidestep union distaste for the idea that a bonus can spur better teaching.

In an unprecedented nod to that skepticism, Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius backed the Minneapolis application for Q-Comp, Minnesota's 8-year-old effort to overhaul how teachers are evaluated and paid.

Now, St. Paul school district leaders are pointing to Minneapolis as they urge their union to jointly pursue $9 million in Q-Comp dollars.

It could be the district's last shot: The state's $75 million in yearly Q-Comp funds are likely to run out this fall. Minnesota has seen a recent spate of applications for the program: Lawmakers required teacher evaluations starting in 2014, but Q-Comp for now is the only source of additional funding to roll them out.

In districts like Minneapolis, unions have passed up on thousands in teacher bonuses to steer more money to training and evaluations.

"We wanted to send a strong message that our focus is really on professional growth, and not on ranking or measurement," said Paul Hegre, a Minneapolis teacher who worked on the administration's proposal.

But some, including Cassellius' predecessor, say the Minneapolis proposal veers from the spirit of Q-Comp, the brainchild of former Republican Gov.

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Tim Pawlenty. They say districts are missing an opportunity to reward educators who excel in the classroom.

About a third of Minnesota districts participate in Q-Comp and receive $260 per pupil from the state and local levies.

To meet the state requirement that Q-Comp applications include a form of performance pay, Minneapolis assigned a dollar to each of three goals, including improvement on standardized tests.

In part, the approach is an acknowledgment that teacher evaluations are in their infancy, Hegre said: Tying pay to something districts are still working to get right would be unfair to teachers.

Much of the $9 million the district would receive will instead fund professional development as well as substitute teachers so educators have the time to take part. Teachers would be able to earn extra dollars for taking on leadership roles, including observing colleagues and giving feedback as part of evaluations.

"We think what we did is creative, and it puts more money into continuous improvement," said Lynn Nordgren, president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers.

The district's school board supported the plan Tuesday.

In St. Paul, district administrators are arguing against forfeiting millions in teacher growth and evaluation dollars, long scarce in district budgets statewide. The district and its union are interested in more professional growth opportunities for teachers and a strong evaluation system, Chief Academic Officer Matt Mohs said at a recent contract negotiation session.

Performance pay has been a stumbling block, he said. But with a more flexible commissioner and district leadership, it no longer has to be.

"I don't believe in the past we've had a superintendent who's said, 'Give me a proposal, and if it's approvable, I will sign it,' " said Mohs.

St. Paul Federation of Teachers negotiators said they would consider the district's pitch and respond at a session this month.

According to the Minnesota Department of Education, the portion of Q-Comp dollars districts have set aside for incentive pay has shrunk in more recent applications. Most will be in the $1,000 to $2,500 range this school year.

Cassellius said she anticipates criticism of her decision to approve the Minneapolis proposal, which reflects her lack of faith in performance pay. She uses a tennis analogy to argue it makes more sense to invest in cultivating educators' skills.

A chance at a $1,000 prize would likely not help a weak player defeat a more skilled competitor, she said. But if that player spends the money on tennis lessons, she could win the match the following year.

Cassellius points to inconclusive research that performance pay boosts student achievement -- and to Q-Comp itself as a case in point.

"We've invested more than $1 billion in Q-Comp over the years, and we still have one of the largest achievement gaps in the country," she said.

Some Q-Comp supporters argue that's at least partly a question of how districts have implemented the program. In most, an overwhelming majority of teachers earn at least some incentive pay, a recent Pioneer Press analysis found.

Fans of performance pay say they are troubled by the state's new flexibility. To former Education Commissioner Alice Seagren, the Minneapolis plan departs from the program's intent. She said money is a powerful motivator in any profession; a push to strengthen teaching is meaningful when compensation is on the line.

Kathy Saltzman, a former lawmaker and state head of the advocacy group StudentsFirst, says that faced with unions protective of traditional seniority-based pay, districts fail to reward superior skill, especially early in educators' careers.

Educators in Anoka-Hennepin, the state's largest district, backed Q-Comp in the spring. Julie Blaha, the local union head, said that after the state approved mandatory evaluations, the district faced a choice between tackling the massive task with or without additional dollars.

Teachers will be able to earn up to $2,200 for meeting the plan's goals.

Blaha said the idea that a bonus can yield higher test scores betrays navete about what drives educators: "There's no amount of money that will motivate me more than the 30 kids looking at me right now."

Still, she recalls the after-hours time and effort she once put into streamlining her classroom transitions between topics as a math teacher. A change in her paycheck would have been welcome validation of her work and the resulting improvement, she said -- and that's how she looks at the performance pay money in her district's Q-Comp plan.

The performance pay issue is bound to factor as state legislators try to reconcile the Q-Comp program and the newer teacher evaluation law, which does not include such pay. There's one thing most education leaders can agree on, Cassellius says: "Strong teacher evaluations can be quite expensive."